Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionII. Psychodynamic
Theories- Freud: Psychoanalysis © The McGraw−Hill^37
Companies, 2009
into consideration the difficulties or impossibilities faced by the ego in carrying out
its orders. Not all its demands, of course, are impossible to fulfill, just as not all de-
mands of parents and other authority figures are impossible to fulfill. The superego,
however, is like the id in that it is completely ignorant of, and unconcerned with, the
practicability of its requirements.
Freud (1933/1964) pointed out that the divisions among the different regions
of the mind are not sharp and well defined. The development of the three divisions
varies widely in different individuals. For some people, the superego does not grow
after childhood; for others, the superego may dominate the personality at the cost of
guilt and inferiority feelings. For yet others, the ego and superego may take turns
controlling personality, which results in extreme fluctuations of mood and alternat-
ing cycles of self-confidence and self-deprecation. In the healthy individual, the id
and superego are integrated into a smooth functioning ego and operate in harmony
and with a minimum of conflict. Figure 2.3 shows the relationships among id, ego,
and superego in three hypothetical persons. For the first person, the id dominates a
weak ego and a feeble superego, preventing the ego from counterbalancing its in-
cessant demands of the id and leaving the person nearly constantly striving for plea-
sure regardless of what is possible or proper. The second person, with strong feelings
of either guilt or inferiority and a weak ego, will experience many conflicts because
the ego cannot arbitrate the strong but opposing demands of the superego and the id.
The third person, with a strong ego that has incorporated many of the demands of
both the id and the superego, is psychologically healthy and in control of both the
pleasure principle and the moralistic principle.
Dynamics of Personality
Levels of mental life and provinces of the mind refer to the structureor composition
of personality; but personalities also dosomething. Thus, Freud postulated a dy-
namic,or motivational principle, to explain the driving forces behind people’s ac-
tions. To Freud, people are motivated to seek pleasure and to reduce tension and anx-
iety. This motivation is derived from psychical and physical energy that springs from
their basic drives.
Drives
Freud used the German word Triebto refer to a drive or a stimulus within the per-
son. Freud’s official translators rendered this term as instinct,but more accurately the
word should be “drive” or “impulse.” Drives operate as a constant motivational
force. As an internal stimulus, drives differ from external stimuli in that they cannot
be avoided through flight.
According to Freud (1933/1964), the various drives can all be grouped under
two major headings: sex or Eros and aggression, distraction, or Thanatos. These
drives originate in the id, but they come under the control of the ego. Each drive has
its own form of psychic energy: Freud used the word libidofor the sex drive, but en-
ergy from the aggressive drive remains nameless.
Every basic drive is characterized by an impetus, a source, an aim, and an ob-
ject. A drive’s impetusis the amount of force it exerts; its sourceis the region of the
Chapter 2 Freud: Psychoanalysis 31